Relationships between employer and staff members are the foundation of creating a microclimate in any organisation. Many CEOs neglect to understand the principles of effective communication with employees and assume they naturally possess these communication skills. Let's remember that we live in constantly changing and dynamic times. The modern job market is brimming with confident and competitive individuals from various professions. In the past, employees were expected to silently endure unprovoked aggression, bias, penalties, and reprimands. Nowadays, even not the most qualified workers carry themselves with respect and change jobs on a whim, without fear of being unwelcomed in the job market. Many experienced employers know just how challenging it is to find qualified, honest, and loyal employees. This is why fine-tuned organisational communication plays a pivotal role in any company. To make a business run smoothly, both employees and employers must compromise and weigh every spoken and heard word while retaining a level of courtesy. Let’s explore the appropriate ways of communicating with staff members and the measures that should be put in place to make your team the most effective workforce you have ever had the pleasure to manage.
Most commonly utilised internal communication techniques
Being the head of a company is not the easiest role. Financial responsibility and managing employees are areas of your accountability. A top company manager must be wise, adaptable, and constantly evaluate their decisions while knowing the proper ways to delegate power. There is a wide array of team management seminars, webinars, and training, where one can acquire the required knowledge and necessary skills. Any self-respecting employer should attend at least one of these seminars to stay current with the latest trends in hiring and managing staff. You must also develop your own style of employee management.
Typically, several internal communication techniques are explored during various professional training seminars:
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Authoritarian. All key decisions are made solely by the employer. They enforce strict systemic control over the execution of all assignments. Under this management, all initiatives and individuality are severely suppressed.
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Anarchistic. The employer tries to stay out of the company’s daily business and employee work as much as possible, allowing things to run completely unchecked while having abandoned all responsibility for results.
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Democratic. An employer aims to increase the role of employees in decision-making, giving them the opportunity to voice their opinions and make decisions of secondary significance independently. Furthermore, all new solutions, collective goals, and company objectives are regularly discussed, with each worker having the right to vote.
In addition to this, employers can utilise joint creativity in employee management. The essence of this style lies in achieving positive results, set goals, and tasks through the combined efforts of employees and the employer.
Each of these methods is beneficial in its own way and appropriate under certain circumstances. The authoritarian approach produces somewhat satisfactory results due to constant control, but it should only be used in critical situations. The democratic method can be employed when the company leader is highly intelligent and possesses strong managerial skills. Without this, it is nearly impossible to achieve effective results using the democratic internal communication technique.
An experienced company owner must possess a certain degree of foresight. Primarily, they need to analyse the behaviour and character traits of all team members, determine the potential of all employees, and foresee the possibility of various situations arising. All these factors must be considered when identifying the right style of organisational communication.
Feedback is a valuable skill in communicating with employees
Establishing proper feedback is considered one of the most important communication skills necessary for effective employee interaction among company leaders for quite some time. Even young and seasoned CEOs must be able to converse with employees, resolve any discrepancies, offer praise or point out areas for improvement, appropriately delegate authority, and provide advice on various tasks. Communicating with staff members should be no problem for a CEO. A company head must be capable of interacting with any employees, even the most unruly and capricious ones, as proper feedback is the cornerstone of mutually beneficial communication. Initially, it may seem that calling in a worker to discuss issues is straightforward. However, it turns out it isn't easy at all. Numerous psychological and sociological studies conducted by companies worldwide have shown that feedback is the most problematic part of employee-employer relationships. Many workers experience stress during poorly handled face-to-face conversations with higher-ups and due to the lack of a properly established feedback process. They are too apprehensive to express their thoughts, feeling undervalued, worthless, and humiliated. An ineffective or absent feedback system disorients workers in the organisation and diminishes their motivation to strive for the common goal. A talented and wise CEO understands that feedback is a useful tool that allows them to:
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Correct an employee’s behaviour within the team
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Guide an employee towards growth and development in a certain department
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Express gratitude and highlight an employee’s importance
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Motivate workers towards new achievements
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Determine the reason for an employee’s misbehaviour
Now let's examine some internal communication techniques that will assist you in setting up an effective feedback system. By following these methods, you will be able to communicate effortlessly with your employees.
Rule N1: Be precise with goals
Before meeting with an employee, understand what you aim to achieve and write it down on a piece of paper. Ask yourself: “What do I want to accomplish during this meeting?” This will simplify the conversation significantly.
Rule N2: Establish a time and place for discussions
It's crucial to discuss only recent events when speaking with a worker. The best practice is to approach an employee to discuss an event that has recently occurred. There's no point in mentioning a time they were late for work 3 years ago when they've been late during the past week. If you noticed that some employees experienced problems with a project yesterday or earlier, it is time to address this issue and provide some guidance.
Rule N3: Involve employees in discussions
All employees in all companies wish to feel needed, important, and heard. Allow your employees to express their thoughts. First, it's an effective way to cultivate worker independence and responsibility for decisions made during the discussion. Second, by denying staff the right to voice their opinions, you risk missing out on useful information and even placing yourself in an awkward situation. You can also uncover the true potential of a particular employee, gather a few good ideas, and gain new experiences.
Rule N4: Praise in public, criticise in private
This is a crucial rule! Numerous reasons support this practice. Public criticism humiliates and profoundly demotivates employees. Effective communication cannot occur if the head of the company permits themselves to publicly criticise employees with a hint of mockery. Understand that if you do this to some employees, you will do it to others, which will instantly turn them against you. Praise should be given sincerely, whether publicly or privately.
Rule N5: Discuss events and actions
It's not acceptable to get personal and assign labels to people under any circumstances. When talking to your employees both privately and collectively, focus only on discussing events and actions, not the workers themselves. It's easy to label or offend people, but it may take months or years to re-establish team communication.
The way you communicate with your employees and which communication style you employ is entirely your decision. You can ignore our advice and fail to establish feedback with workers, but that approach will likely lead to a brief career. As a CEO, you must understand one simple thing: Both you and your employees should be oriented towards achieving common goals and tasks, as well as fostering a pleasant team atmosphere. Good luck, dear employers. Don’t give up on improving your skills, and you will achieve everything you desire!
